Martin’s 4-story height limit in danger?

Anyone who doubts that developers rule in Martin County should catch a rerun of Tuesday’s commission meeting.

Sally Swartz

In a day-long developer lovefest and truth-stretching extravaganza, the commission and its faithful growth management staff:

— Pretended to fix problems with King Ranch’s huge AgTEC project, which creates a new land use that threatens Martin’s cherished 4-story building height limit and its protective urban boundary.

— Failed to explain why the Martin staff started reviewing Harmony, a proposed city west of Hobe Sound with 4,000 homes and no committed job-producers, before developers paid the required $40,000 filing fee.

— Gave Jensen Beach developer Bill Reily another two-year extension, until August 2015, to build his Pitchford’s Landing project.

Chairman Ed Ciampi and Commissioners Doug Smith and Patrick Hayes, who typically vote together to ram through any development-related request, might as well invite their buds to join them on the dais.

While King Ranch rep Mitch Hutchcraft laughed and joked with a pal in the audience, Mr. Ciampi tried to look like the good guy in crafting a fix for the AgTEC issues. Critics believe different spellings of the project’s name open it to future mischief from development lawyers.

An administrative law judge disagrees, but concerned residents are asking commissioners for a do-over.
Commissioners Ed Fielding and Sarah Heard tried to correct the typos, protect the 4-story height limit and restrict the AgTEC land use solely to the King Ranch property, Sunrise Groves. Commissioner Ciampi voted for that, then changed his mind.

Out went the lines protecting the height limit and the urban boundary. The staff said the commission would have to amend the growth plan, a long process, even to correct the typos.

So Mr. Ciampi, who said he didn’t want to burden the county staff with too much work, led the majority in voting to fix the typos in a general housekeeping or routine “glitch” bill within the next two years.

At the meeting, Ms. VanVonno floundered trying to explain why the staff started reviewing Harmony before the developer paid county fees. Martin staffers will review Harmony “but won’t provide any comments,” Ms. van Vonno said, until the county gets paid. So much for making developers follow the rules.

Finally, Don Cuozzo, representing Reily Enterprises, won a two-year extension for Pitchford’s Landing, a project of homes and condos at what now is a trailer park near the Indian River.

Mr. Reily blamed lawsuits for his client’s need for more time for a project the commission OK’d in 2007. But resident Jackie Trancynger said Mr. Reily’s own Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) against Jensen Beach residents who oppose the project, plus a successful challenge of a state permit for a seawall along the Indian River Lagoon, contributed to the delay.

Both Commissioners Smith and Hayes expressed sympathy for developers and their expenses.
“I’m inclined to be supportive to our development community,” Commissioner Hayes said.

That support was evident Thursday morning at a Hobe Sound Chamber of Commerce slide show touting Hobe Grove, another mega-development west of Hobe Sound seeking commission approval. The two commissioners spent so much time with the Hobe Grove representatives that some residents wondered if they are part of the developer’s team.

Sally Swartz is a former member of The Post Editorial Board. Her e-mail address is sdswartz42@comcast.net